Good Morning! Carlyle is selling its $2.6 billion data center power unit to EQT for a more than 5x return. Blackstone and TPG are eyeing a $4 billion-plus sale of Hologic's surgical unit to trim LBO debt and return cash to investors as M&A rebounds. And Goldman Sachs banned employees from trading on prediction markets, except for sports and entertainment.

US companies raised more venture capital in the first half of 2026 than in any full year in history, largely powered by megadeals. Starbucks is building its own AI to cut reliance on Microsoft and IBM software. And Goldman won $70 billion in asset management retirement deals with Verizon and Lockheed Martin.

Plus: Airbnb bought its first NYC office despite years of beefing with the city, and 5 things successful people do to get luckier in life.

This hedge fund research platform beat ChatGPT, Claude, and Shortcut in financial modeling. Learn more about the tool Tier 1 hedge funds are using.

SQUEEZ OF THE DAY

Boutiques Keep Paying Up

Elite boutiques are known for paying well. For decades, firms like Evercore, Lazard, Moelis, and PJT have poached star dealmakers from the bulge brackets, dangling guarantees and 25% to 30% revenue-sharing deals without the bureaucracy of a big bank.

Now the same boutiques are quietly asking whether they pay too well. When dealmaking cratered after the pandemic, the boutiques saw a once-in-a-cycle opening: scoop up senior bankers shed by the bulge brackets before the cycle turned. Firms like Evercore and PJT wrote big two-year guarantees, then promised rainmakers a fat cut (25% to 30%) of whatever they brought in, betting M&A would roar back fast.

It hasn't, at least not all the way. The boutiques have grown, but advisory fees haven't kept pace with the cost of the talent. Since 2022, the majors have paid at least 60% of net revenue back to staff every single year, the line Wall Street has long treated as a ceiling.

Lazard hit 69.9% in Q1, and comp ratios sit well above pre-pandemic norms (see chart above). The market has noticed: boutique stocks have lagged both the S&P 500 and their larger, trading-fueled peers this year.

The firms told investors this was temporary: noncompetes take time to expire, and new partners rarely produce much in their first two years. But the boom hasn't delivered and the hiring hasn't stopped. Lazard added 28 senior bankers last year against a target of 10 to 15, and boutiques are still recruiting like it's an arms race, chasing private credit, AI, power, energy, and sports (the fee pool of the month).

At some shops, though, the bet is paying off. From 2022 to 2025, PJT's advisory revenue jumped more than 80% and Evercore's rose 36%. At Lazard, advisory fees climbed just 10%.

Takeaway: These firms were supposed to be high-margin, capital-light machines. But elite advisory is still a simple business: star bankers know what they're worth and price accordingly. AI may shrink junior teams, but nobody has built software that talks a Fortune 500 CEO into a $40 billion mandate, and as AI commoditizes the models and decks, the rainmakers only get more valuable.

Curious how your firm stacks up? Wall Street 360 has the most up-to-date comp data across 1,000+ firms, every Wall Street boutique included.

PRESENTED BY PRIMER

Claude for Excel Only Scored 48% on its Analyst Exam

A leading analyst training firm put the top AI tools through a classic first-year assignment, a fully integrated three-statement model for Apple, and graded them like trainees. ChatGPT scored 43%, Claude managed 48%, and Shortcut topped the field at 50%. All of them failed. Yet, most investors still paste tickers into these chatbots and trust their modeling (and research).

Tier 1 Hedge funds run their work through Primer instead, which took the same test and scored 81%, a full 31 points clear of Shortcut.* Built by former hedge fund investors to help analysts do higher quality, more robust research. Until now, access was reserved for institutions. Today it's open to everyone.

Get your own hedge fund analyst.

HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Blackstone and TPG seek over $4 billion for Hologic unit (Seeking Alpha)

• H1’26 In Review (Buysiders)

• Carlyle to sell $2.6bn data center power unit to EQT for fivefold return (FT)

• Goldman bans staff prediction markets bets on finance, politics (BB)

• Venture capital is already having a record year (Axios)

• Starbucks to use AI to replace Microsoft, IBM software (Fortune)

• Goldman Sachs wins $70 billion in asset management deals with Verizon, Lockheed Martin (CNBC)

• Airbnb buys first NYC office despite years of battle with local pols who cracked down on platform (NY Post)

• This summer, Midtown Manhattan is taking center stage (NYT)

• Meta jumps into AI coding market in effort to chase Anthropic and OpenAI (CNBC)

• June home sales disappoint as prices reach an all-time high (CNBC)

• Dronemaker Helsing alters staff stock plan before funding round (BB)

CAPITAL PULSE

Markets Rundown

Market Update

• U.S. equities moved higher, with the Nasdaq gaining more than 1% and the S&P 500 rising 0.8%, led by technology stocks.

• Initial jobless claims came in at 215,000, slightly below expectations, while existing home sales fell 2.4% in June.

• The 10-year Treasury yield edged lower to around 4.55%.

• WTI crude oil finished lower on the day, though it remains up more than 4% for the week amid renewed U.S.-Iran tensions.

Technology Rotation

• Technology has declined roughly 5% since the beginning of June but remains up more than 17% year to date.

• Technology and communication services earnings are expected to grow approximately 52% and 23%, respectively, in 2026.

• U.S. mid-cap stocks, communication services, and industrials have been among the areas seeing stronger relative performance during the recent market rotation.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Qiagen ($QIA) +12% after private equity firms EQT and Advent have separately expressed takeover interest in the diagnostics company.

• (+) Cerebras ($CBRS) +9% because the Nvidia challenger announced a multibillion-dollar European expansion.

• (–) Paramount Skydance ($PSKY) -4% after the company will delay its Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition due to regulatory and legal issues.

Prediction Markets

• Buy the dip. What will the final ticket price for the WC semis?

• Trade on real-world events with Kalshi. Use code OWS to get a $10 bonus when you trade $10.

Private Dealmaking

• Kraken Technology, a U.K. maritime defense startup, raised $175 million

• Oxylabs, a Lithuanian data infrastructure platform, raised $130 million

• Venus Aerospace, a developer of rocket engines for hypersonic flight, raised $91 million

• TJM, a pharmacy automation platform, raised $75 million

• Ollama, a developer platform for open models, raised $65 million

• Vendelux, a B2B events marketing platform, raised $50 million

For more PE, VC & M&A deals, subscribe to our Buysiders newsletter.

BOOK OF THE DAY

Power, For All

Description:
A research-backed leadership guide from Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro that redefines power as a skill anyone can develop rather than a privilege reserved for a select few. Drawing on decades of research in leadership, organizational behavior, and psychology, the book explains how power is built, shared, and sustained—and why understanding it is essential for creating positive change. It offers practical strategies for gaining influence ethically, leading more effectively, and empowering others without relying on authority alone.

Book Length: 320 pages
Release Date: May 6, 2025

Ideal For:
Leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, and professionals looking to build influence, lead more effectively, and better understand how power shapes organizations and society.

Power creates the greatest impact when it is used to expand the potential of others rather than elevate yourself.

DAILY VISUAL

Chinese AI Models Gain Market Share

PRESENTED BY MOSAIC

Bain: "PE Is Sitting on 32,000 Unsold Companies"

Bain's new Global PE Report put out a huge number: private equity is holding 32,000 unsold companies worth $3.8 trillion. After years of waiting, the exit window appears to be opening. 

Medline's listing was the largest PE-backed IPO in history, corporate buyers are back, and Bain's survey of GPs indicates a belief in that momentum carrying through 2026. But buyers are still selective, and the deals getting done are the ones where the seller can back up the price.

PE firms are getting exit-ready in Mosaic, where a new Football Field tab adds a DCF, public comps, and precedent transactions to any completed LBO in one click, and the redesigned Deals View keeps models, metrics, and documents in one place for the whole team.

See why firms are turning to Mosaic for modeling.

DAILY ACUMEN

Anchoring

The first number in any negotiation quietly sets the gravity for everything that follows, even when everyone in the room knows it was arbitrary. Name a price, and the entire conversation orbits it. Counter, and you are still negotiating in the field that first figure created. The anchor does its work whether or not anyone believes it, which is exactly what makes it so powerful.

This is why whoever speaks first often shapes the outcome more than whoever argues best. The initial anchor becomes the reference point against which every subsequent move is judged as reasonable or extreme, generous or insulting, and it drags the final result toward itself with a pull most people never consciously notice.

Know this in both directions. Be deliberate about the first number you put down, because you are not just making an offer, you are setting the frame. And when someone anchors you, recognize the pull for what it is before you let an arbitrary figure quietly define what you think is fair.

ENLIGHTENMENT

Short Squeez Picks

• 5 things successful people do to get luckier in life

• The secret reason why bosses want everyone back in the office

• How to find purpose beyond productivity

• How long you should strength train to live longer

• If you want to succeed at work, you need to friction-maxx

MEME-A-PALOOZA

Memes of the Day

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